EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY OF LOW-ENERGY ION MIXING

We have measured the energy dependence of the depth resolution in AES depth profiling experiments using glancing ion incidence angle and specimen rotation during ion sputtering. It was found that under these conditions the depth resolution did nor depend on the removed layer thickness, but rather on the ion energy. An ion energy change was immediately followed by a change in the depth resolution. Based on this observation we concluded that, in the cases of Ta-Ni and Mo-Si multilayer systems, ion mixing is the most important contribution to depth resolution in the energy range of 4-10 and 3-10 keV, respectively. Hence, by measuring depth resolution, we can obtain data on ion mixing.